I think that is the first time I have anyone affect that sort of uniquely Robert Smith-esque vocal style to that extent. Gives me high school flashbacks...

yep, totally Gabe, I wasn't saying rip off, just that it was derived from a form that never really went mainstream. The Charlatans should only be so lucky to be considered the Led Zeppelin of these days. I have a feeling they aren't even considered. The new Charlatans albums is actually very very good.

I was really enjoying this Black Kids song this morning, I am not knocking it at all.

www.worcesterite.com/content/new-charlatans-album-available-free

they are from Florida, of course.

The Cure get the respect for sure. Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Ride, I have no idea.

Kate Nash doing a cover of that song.

and The Twelves Remix

Do you think it is as contrived as that? These guys don't seem that calculated, heavily influenced maybe, but I can't picture a record exec. constructing this type of band at all.

And I am not saying this song is Bohemian Rhapsody but it's pretty fun.

I mean how else do you explain the "popularity" of Vampire Weekend? I mean that record was pretty middling, but again, heavily influenced.

I think most fun music is just bands taking genres and mushing them together. I can't think of much stuff that has come out that is legitimate fun, everyone can dance to it stuff that isn't like this.

I mean Dan Deacon is tons of fun, but I don't think for a second it's fun for everyone.

Nothing is original and when you hear something original for the first time chances are your ears are so foreign to whatever is going on there is no way you will like it right off the bat. You need to develop a taste for it.

This is what I believe anyways.

hahah yes!

Okay, seriously. I'm with Duncan on the feeling that record companies aren't looking for the next this or that anymore. I mean, really cutting edge A&R people at least. American Idol tells us different, but Simon Cowell isn't trying to predict the future, he's throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks.

In this day and age of instant media access, it's less and less in the hands of record companies to define what we hear. A band like the Black Kids, or the Ting Tings, Kate Nash, Lilly Allen or Go Team, etc.... especially noting that all of these acts have some sense of "fun" to their music (or at least the singles that we hear), their music can quickly spread virally through the internet (radio, blogs, plus satellite radio) and faster than an old-school cigar-chomping A&R guy can say "Milli Vanilli" they've got a zillion downloads under their belt and their already booked for Coachella.

Gabe is on the money in the fact that young acts today look at even music from 10 years ago as a bygone era, let alone a band like The Cure, who while still active today, had their greatest moment of influence in the mid-late 80's.

I think about that fact a lot. It's hard to wrap your head around the perspective of today's kids that are making the cutting edge music. It's truly amazing how limitless their access to all kinds of influential music is. That said, I still find it a little ho-hum when a modern band is taking their cues from one specific band or another. I'm more intrigued by the folks that are mixing up genres and influences like crazy. That's what makes me really excited about acts like M.I.A. for example.

I like that Black Kids song too. I agree that he sounds just like he's doing an impression of me back in 1988 doing my impression of Robert Smith. That said, the song is well done and though it may not find it's place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next to Stairway to Heaven, I'm happy to listen to it today.

Roger

"isn't trying to predict the future, he's throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks."

replace "he" with "the industry" and that's pretty much all I'm saying too, when it boils down to it, but obviously from a more cynical view. Not a matter of "what's the next big thing" anymore, but moreso the "last big underground thing" to ressurect & exploit...the Black Kids possibly being a "right place at the right time" scenario. But what do I know...I'm not in the "biz".

Meh. I'm over it. v;O)

"big business adapting to try to take advantage of more, and smaller irons in the fire, and not throwing so much money at a lot of high-profile mainstream acts.... there are less old-school Simon Cowell/Clive Davis/Ahmet Ertegun (RIP) types steering the ships, and more younger and fresher folks paddling canoes with more acts that may take less money to produce/promote and therefore have a higher profit/expense ratio that, though less money than an act like Mariah Carey might have made in 1995, money is money and it eventually adds up."

Again, agreed, and the same thing I was trying to say.

more "moderately-bankable", varied acts instead of "throwing all the eggs in one basket"Big acts...agreed...we're on the same page...

Michael really has a serious problem with my musical opinions.

That said I think he still has a very cute bottom.